The next day, at 7:30 in the morning.
Zhang Jiameng woke up in Wang Songyang’s apartment. He was still fast asleep. She tugged at the quilt and took a quick peek inside.
A flash of panic crossed her face, but it was quickly replaced by a smile.
Zhang Jiameng got up and put on her clothes. Just as she finished, Wang Songyang woke up, grabbed her hand, and spoke with a feigned, affectionate look.
"Mengmeng, it seems we drank too much last night. I..."
"I know, you don't need to say anything."
Interrupting him, Zhang Jiameng smiled and said calmly, "I need to rush home first. You go back to sleep."
"Remember to come by the studio tonight and bring me some food," Wang Songyang said with a nod and a smile.
"Alright, see you tonight."
When Zhang Jiameng returned to the villa, she glanced into the room and found that Qin Yuan was actually not there. She didn't even notice that Qin Yuan's belongings were gone.
His presence in the house was practically zero.
So, Zhang Jiameng went upstairs and called out.
"Mom, where did Qin Yuan go? Didn't he say he took a leave of absence?"
It was Auntie Wang, their family housekeeper, who answered, since it was already past eight o'clock and the rest of the family had long since gone out to work.
"Miss, President Zhang and the others aren't home. Mr. Qin went to Jiangzhou University late yesterday afternoon, and when he came back, he packed a duffel bag and left."
"Why did he pack a duffel bag? Did the factory arrange a business trip for him?" Zhang Jiameng walked forward, looking at Auntie Wang in confusion.
"Miss, I heard that Mr. Qin went to your university yesterday to attend your graduation ceremony, intending to propose to you. Everyone already knows about it, but..."
Auntie Wang had been a housekeeper for the Zhang family for many years and knew about many things. After much thought, she decided to tell Zhang Jiameng what she had learned yesterday.
Ridiculous.
It was as if the whole world knew that Qin Yuan was going to propose at her graduation ceremony yesterday, yet she, Zhang Jiameng, the main character, knew nothing about it.
After listening to Auntie Wang, Zhang Jiameng froze, a look of disbelief crossing her face.
"Break off relations... with me?!"
The next second, her expression returned to calm, tinged with a hint of disdain.
"Only Qin Yuan could say something like that. He's so childish."
"Tell Qin Yuan to come back and cook lunch for me. I'll call him later and tell him to come home."
Zhang Jiameng walked downstairs casually, filled with confidence, convinced that this was simply Qin Yuan's way of teaching her a lesson.
When Qin Yuan came back home at noon to cook for her, at worst, she would just give him a couple of compliments, and everything would be fine.
***
Meanwhile.
Qin Yuan, nursing a hangover, opened his bleary eyes.
Seeing the unfamiliar ceiling chandelier above, Qin Yuan sat up and rubbed his temples in confusion.
Strange, did he black out from drinking? What on earth happened last night?
The next second.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something startling—why did it seem like... there was someone else in the room?
Uncertain, Qin Yuan slowly turned his head toward the sofa.
A stunning and familiar face appeared in his field of vision once more. Wrapped in a bath towel with her hair still damp, she was sitting on the sofa with her arms crossed, looking at him expressionlessly.
"Finally awake?"
Even without a trace of makeup, it did nothing to diminish Wen Yue's peerless beauty. However, the oppressive weight of her scrutinizing and questioning cold gaze made Qin Yuan's skin crawl.
Meeting Wen Yue's eyes, Qin Yuan couldn't help but glance at the strands of slightly curled hair resting on her fair, smooth shoulders...
Noticing his gaze, the corners of Wen Yue's lips curled up slightly as she asked indifferently, "Good-looking?"
"Good-looking."
"Then will you marry me?"
"No."
Qin Yuan shook his head without the slightest hesitation.
Are you kidding me? He had just barely managed to climb out of one fire pit, only to jump straight into an even bigger one?
No, that was absolutely out of the question.
Yet, connecting Wen Yue's words with the fact that he had woken up bare-naked in bed with a chilly draft, Qin Yuan was gradually piecing together what had happened last night.
A night of heavy drinking, a single man and a single woman, waking up naked in a hotel.
This was the textbook definition of a drunken romantic rendezvous; he never expected the cliché encounters from TV dramas to actually happen to him.
Far from feeling any quiet delight over this encounter, Qin Yuan found the whole thing rather bizarre. All he could remember was drinking cocktails with Wen Yue; he genuinely couldn't recall a single thing that happened afterward.
What a mess!
This brief flash of memory gave Qin Yuan a massive headache. He only prayed that this unsavory incident wouldn't reach the ears of his second uncle, currently far away in Country M, or the man would undoubtedly book the next flight back to "solo-kill" him in person.
"I want you to take responsibility. Come with me to the civil affairs bureau right now to get our marriage certificate."
Qin Yuan: "What?!"
A marriage certificate?
Crap, she's actually serious!
After a moment of thought, Qin Yuan reached out in a conciliatory tone and said, "Look, give me my phone, and I'll compensate you with some money. Just name your price."
"What do you take me for?"
As if anticipating he would say that, Wen Yue's face turned icy cold as she snapped, "I don't want your compensation. I just want you to act responsibly and come get the marriage certificate with me."
Hearing this, Qin Yuan's heart tightened, and he said with helpless frustration, "W-Wen Yue, right? We literally just met last night, we don't know a thing about each other. If we just go get a marriage certificate like this, you're ruining your own life too."
Despite Qin Yuan's words, Wen Yue's expression remained resolute.
"If you don't get the certificate with me, that truly would be ruining lives."
"Don't worry, once you get the certificate with me, I won't mistreat you. At the very least, I won't make a cuckold out of you, nor will I make you live a life of endless misery."
Qin Yuan was stunned.
What does that mean?
Is she saying I was cheated on?
So Wen Yue had already found out about his ex-girlfriend Zhang Jiameng fooling around behind his back with her male best friend? That was a brutal insult... But Qin Yuan honestly had no idea about any of this. Could he have spilled all his deepest secrets last night?
Filled with utter confusion at that moment, Qin Yuan also felt intensely awkward.
"Is this certificate really non-negotiable?" Qin Yuan probed softly.
All because he accidentally brushed glasses with her last night, drank a few cups together, and then suffered a complete blackout? And now, waking up from a nap meant getting married? There was clearly something fishy going on here.
"It's not strictly non-negotiable."
Since the soft approach wasn't working, she would just have to resort to hardball.
Anticipating that Qin Yuan would try to put up a dying struggle, Wen Yue lifted her eyelids to gaze at him and said coldly, "I'll give you two choices now: either come with me to the civil affairs bureau to get the marriage certificate, or come with me to the police station to file a report. But you'd better think carefully about the consequences of choosing the latter."
"You should know what the minimum prison sentence is for rape, right? Moreover, even the lightest outcome will ruin your reputation completely and leave you living in perpetual darkness for the rest of your life. Now that is true, boundless misery."
Qin Yuan was dumbfounded. The phrase "femme fatale" had suddenly taken on a vivid, concrete form right before his eyes.
"Are you threatening me? Shameless! This was a trap you set all along!"
"You don't want compensation, but you insist on getting a marriage certificate. What exactly are you playing at?"
At that moment, Wen Yue stood up with her phone, walked over to throw Qin Yuan's clothes—which she had hidden under the sofa—onto the bed, and then showed him her phone screen, where the number "110" had already been typed out.
"Who do you think the media, reporters, and the police are going to believe—you or me? The process doesn't matter; the outcome is the truth."
"There's no other reason. I'm just after you."
"Think it over, put on your clothes, and come with me... Be my man, you won't get a bad deal."